ENGLAND. 239 



long suspended, had entirely terminated by the fatal death of the king 

 of France ; that he had no more any public character here, where 

 his further residence was forbidden. Eight days were allowed for 

 his departure ; and this notification was published in the Gazette. 

 M. Maret had been sent by the executive council oi France with en- 

 larged powers, as it was said, but arriving in England exactly at the 

 period of M. Chauvelin's dismission, he thought it prudent immedi- 

 ately to return home. 



Mr. secretary Dundas, on the 28th of January, presented to the 

 house of commons a message from the king, in which his majesty 

 expressed the necessity of making a further augmentation of his 

 forces by sea and land, for maintaining the security and rights of his 

 own dominions, for supporting his allies, and for opposing views of 

 aggrandizement and ambition on the part of France. The question 

 in relation to this subject was carried by a great majority in favour of 

 ministers. 



On the 25th of March, 1791, lord Grenville and count Woronzovv 

 signed a convention at London, on behalf of .his Britannic majesty 

 and the empress of Russia, in which their majesties agreed to em-i 

 ploy their respective forces in carrying on the " just and necessai'y 

 war " in which they were engaged against France ; and they reci-i 

 procally promised not to lay down their arms but by common consent. 

 Notwithstanding this solemn treaty, Catharine took no active pari 

 whatever in the war. Another treaty was concluded between hi* 

 Britannic majesty and the king of Sardinia, signed at London th<) 

 25th of April, by which Great Britain engaged to pay 200,000/. pfr 

 annum to the king of Sardinia, and three months in advance. A trea- 

 ty was likewise concluded between his highness the pi'ince of Hesse- 

 Cassel and his Britannic majesty ; the former was to furnish 9)00 

 men for the war, during three years ; in return for which, England 

 was to pay 100,000/. levy-money, and 56,000/. sterling per annu/h for 

 six years. 



On the first of June, 1794, the British fleet under the comrrand of 

 admiral lord Howe obtained a signal victory over that of the Trench, 

 in which two ships were sunk, one burnt, and six brought into Ports- 

 mouth harbour. 



On the 8th of December, a message from his majesty was brought 

 down to the house of commons, signifying a disposition to eater into a 

 negotiation with France, the government of that country having at 

 length assumed such a form as to render a treaty with it practicable. , 

 Mr. Wickham, the British plenipotentiary to the Swiss Cjntons, was 

 appointed, in consequence, to make some overtures, through the 

 medium of Mr. Barthelemi, the French envoy at Basle ; bu; this feeble 

 attempt at negotiation soon terminated without effect. 



An apparently much more serious offer of this nature vas made the 

 following year. About the latter end of the month o^ September, 

 1796, through the intervention of the Danish minister at Paris, a pass- 

 port was applied for and obtained for a confidential person to be sent 

 to Paris from the court of London, commissioned to dh'cuss with the 

 French government the means most proper for conducing to the re- 

 establishrnent of peace. Lord Malmesbury was the person appointed 

 by the British court to undertake this mission. His lordship accord- 

 ingly repaired to Paris, where he continued about two months. It 

 was proposed, on the partof*England, as the basis of the treaty, that 

 France should restore the Netherlands to the emperor, and evacuate 



